By Jay Williams

What's your impression of a producer from Brooklyn or Queens New York? You're probably thinking of those block rocking, pavement cracking beats.  Those type of tracks, while being able to snap your neck off, place the producer behind them in a one dimensional light. 

Canei Finch is breaking all molds with his style of production.  The Brooklyn, New York native's tracks provide a wide variety of tracks to get parties crackin' as well as introspective, thought provoking, music for the soul.  He is the embodiment of creativity by sampling from cartoons, video games, and using his musical talents to bolster a fresh sound. 

Canei chilled with BeatDynasty.com for a few to speak on how he got discovered and why he's focusing on his own artists.  Take notes.
 

BeatDynasty.com: First let the people know what placements you already have out there.

Canei: Well my first placement that I ever got was on a Tupac album, Pac's Life.  That was "Dumpin'" with Carl Thomas, Papoose, and Fatal (Hussein) from the Outlawz.  After that, my second one was with Consequence and that was on Don't Quit Your Day Job, and it was called "Uptown."  I just got another one with Gorilla Zoe called "Last Time I Checked."  Oh also [I have a placement with] Young Chris.  His album didn't come out yet, but I did what is supposed to be the first single off his album called "Coast to Coast" with Bobby Valentino.

"Dumpin'" Tupac ft. Papoose, Carl Thomas, Fatal Hussein Produced by Canei

BeatDynasty.com: You're signed with Sha Money's management team, correct?

Canei: Yeah

BeatDynasty.com: How were you discovered?

Canei: Who really broke me was my ex-manager.  I met him through a friend of mine.  He introduced me to Young Guru, and that sparked everything off.  After that I got into a situation with Just Blaze.  After that I got a little buzz up.  I did a remix for Rhiana, when Young Guru was working with Corey Gunz.  They needed a song to put Corey Gunz out on. So he asked somebody at Def Jam for the vocals to "If It's Lovin' That You Want."  They actually pressed it up on vinyl on some promo s**t.  After that I ended up meeting with Cory Rooney, he did a lot of stuff for J-Lo and Mary (J. Blige).  I was supposed to be doing a publishing deal with him.  I was at his crib and we were trying to work out the whole situation.  Sha comes there and was supposed to be having a meeting but, he wasn't paying any attention to Cory.  I seen him from the corner of my eye.  I figured he was blown away, and he made a proposal of a deal to me.

"Last Time I Checked" Gorilla Zoe Produced by Canei

BeatDynasty.com: What exactly do you do with Just Blaze?

Canei: We just scored a video game called NBA Ballers 2008. I did about seven or eight tracks on there.  I have additional keyboard work on T.I. "Help is Coming."  That was on the  T.I. vs. TIP album.  P. Diddy featuring Christina Aguilera I got additional keyboards on the song "Tell Me."  Jay-Z American Gangster title track, I did some keyboard work on that. 

BeatDynasty.com: So you play just keys?

Canei: I play keys mainly.  I can play drums or guitar, but I don't  practice on those.  Keyboards are my main thing, I'm nasty on them.

BeatDynasty.com: You also are a mix engineer.  Expand on how that helps you.

Canei:  When you're a creative person, and you make a beat, write a song, or cut vocals, you have an idea of how it's supposed to sound.  When you go to an engineer and say, "I got this beat and I want the drums to knock this way," he may not know what you're talking about.  He may not be able to get it to sound the way you want it to sound.  When you're an engineer, you can explore and do whatever you have to do to get it the way you want it to sound.  Instead of sending the engineer all your dry instruments, you can go in and get it to sound the way you want it to sound.  Like with Dr. Dre, even though his drum programming is not dope and crazy, his mixes are incredible.  That makes him the great producer that he is.

BeatDynasty.com: Do you also rap and sing?

Canei: I sing because  I write songs and demo myself.  I started off rapping when I was like eight.  I've been making beats since I was fourteen, and I've been playing keys since I was about twelve.  I started off rapping in a group with my brothers.  I moved away and I started rapping with different people. My brother and my father were producers as well.  So I'm not too far from them, and they were close to me, so I picked it up easily.

BeatDynasty.com: You participated in the Sha Money Beat Battle in Arizona.  What was your impression of it overall?

Well, the first day, everything went well.  This was my first beat battle, so I was already confused about what beats would win.  Some people told me it really doesn't matter and some people told me you have to come with the hardest stuff and just make the drums knock. 

The second day, I can tell you exactly why I lost.  The judges were more underground like Preemo and 9th Wonder.  They were the two main judges that set the vibe other than Swizz Beatz.  M-Phazes sounds like a mixture of Preemo and 9th Wonder with samples, with drums, and loops.  I played like three South type beats, which is what really killed me.  The second day they judged based on who they liked more. It wasn't like they did a score or nothing like that.  You have to have hard joints when it comes to beat battles.

BeatDynasty.com:  Is beat battling something you want to do, or was that just for fun?

Canei: It's just for fun.  At first I didn't see a lot that could come out of it.  It's like if you're a rapper and you're doing shows all around New York City, you're not going to get much attention from that.  But, if you're so dope that you go in there and straight rock the house and  make yourself unforgettable, there's so much that can come from that.  When I did the joint in Arizona, even though I didn't win, a lot of people hit me up like, "You should have won."  When I did the Istandard one in New York City and I sampled Thriller and the people went crazy man.  I think it's fun, but also a lot can come out of it. I definitely want to get into doing some more.

BeatDynasty.com: What projects do you have coming up?

Canei: I got my own artist called Bryan Ellis. He's a white boy from California.  When he came to me he sounded like he went directly to Timbaland and said ," Make me FutureSex/LoveSounds all over again."  We took him and he's still a little Justin "Timberlakeish,"  but we got a little Beatles sound to us now.  That is my main project right now. We're actually getting a lot of good looks from the labels.  We have five incredible songs that's getting  a lot of attention from the labels.  They're shopping for a deal right now. 

"Eleanor Rigby" Bryan Ellis Produced by Canei

BeatDynasty.com: So you're focusing on your own artist?

Canei: That's all I really want to do. I'm getting so sick of these labels.  I've been hearing a lot of people that have a lot of good music and they're putting out some bulls**t.  I'm listening to these albums and you got two good singles, and the rest are filler songs.  It's like spend the money and do what you gotta do.  I just want to work on my own project.  I need my own people. 

BeatDynasty.com: Do you have other industry projects?

Canei: I've been working with Just Blaze on Marsha Ambrosia, who's signed to Aftermath.  That's Marsha from Floetry.  I did some stuff with Just for T.I. but I don't know if it got placed. I'm going to work with Musiq SoulChild on the 30th of this month.  He's my favorite R&B artist. 

BeatDynasty.com: Do you have anything you want to add?

Canei: I just hope people start recognizing good music and somebody who's not afraid to take a chance.  I look at it like the greater the risk the greater the reward, and from there use your instincts to see if it's hot or not.  

Hear more music from Canei Finch at www.myspace.com/caneimusic 

Canei's First Day at the One Stop Shop Beat Battle